Packages hit the road for busiest shipping day ever

If you’re sending a package today, you’re in a big crowd: Delivery service FedEx anticipates its biggest day in history, with roughly 19 million packages hitting the road. Several thousand of those will come from the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

If you’re sending a package today, you’re in a big crowd: Delivery service FedEx anticipates its biggest day in history, with roughly 19 million packages hitting the road.

Several thousand of those will come from the Northern San Joaquin Valley. Two years ago, the company moved 4,000 packages on its busiest day of the year, up from 2,500 on a regular day.

That number no doubt will be much larger today, as online shopping has exploded and more retailers offer free or low-cost shipping to attract customers. Gifts coming from stores will join those packaged over the weekend by folks at home.

Though Cyber Monday — the Monday after Thanksgiving — has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, it’s the Monday two weeks before Christmas that tends to be the busiest for those in the shipping business.

Nationwide, the 300,000 people who work for FedEx year-round — and roughly 20,000 hired for the season — are ready, the company said in a news release.

Said T. Michael Glenn, FedEx executive vice president of market development: “The spirit and drive of our team members, backed by the efficiency of our networks, will help us deliver what we expect will be a record-breaking 280 million packages through our global networks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, up 13 percent from 2011.”